Because of the wide availability of sophisticated and dangerous weaponry on the street and in the hands of today's criminals, it is becoming increasingly necessary for police forces in our communities to respond in kind by carrying more powerful and dangerous firearms, such as those having high-capacity and highspeed magazines or feeding devices, for their own protection and to provide a greater deterrence to those criminals. For example, police forces now commonly purchase sub-machine guns and, in addition, the United States government recently began loaning excess military machine guns, such as the Colt M16, to police forces across the country for their use in combating this increasingly-dangerous criminal element. However, because high-capacity and high-speed magazines are no longer available to the general public, because of the potential risk that such weapons or the high-capacity or high-speed magazines used with such weapons could be stolen from police cars by the very criminal element the police are trying to combat, and because of the potential civil liability that could arise if such weapons or magazines were later used in the commission of a crime, police superiors have been hesitant to allow such weapons and magazines to be carried routinely by officers in their vehicles. Instead, most of these highly-sophisticated firearms remain locked up in storage at the police stations. In some cases, a police officer can sign out one of these weapons if he knows, beforehand, that such fire power may be needed; however, in most cases, such a weapon is needed in an emergency situation when there is not sufficient time to remove the weapon from storage.
In order to facilitate the use of such higher power firearms by law enforcement, a mounting device is required which securely retains such a high power firearm within vehicles in a relatively safe manner free from tampering or unauthorized removal. Such mounting device should be particularly suited to securely retain a firearm and prevent access to the operational elements of the firearm, such as the high-capacity and/or high-speed feeding device or magazine. Furthermore, the mounting device should be easily and relatively permanently mounted to a wall within the cabin or trunk of a vehicle, such as a police car. The mounting device should also be sturdy in construction, not overly cumbersome or difficult to use, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. The mounting device should also use a manual keyed lock, rather than an electrical lock, which is easier to by-pass, or a combination lock, which is more difficult to open when the user is experiencing high stress, tension, heart rate, and/or adrenaline rush, as may be the case with a police officer attempting to thwart a crime in progress. There is a further need for a weapon-mounting device and associated locking mechanism, neither of which can be easily overcome by the application of direct blunt force impact, prying with a crowbar or similar device, or bolt cutting. The preferred embodiments of the present invention as set forth below are intended to address these needs.